ARTICLES ABOUT CAPITAL RESERVE BY DATE - PAGE 2

After almost two hours of heated debate, the East Penn School Board awarded more than $1 million in contracts Monday. The board OK'd a project that includes a new field house, press box and soccer fields and improvements to the concessions stand and parking lot at Lower Macungie Middle School. The larger contracts went to Hollebach Construction Inc., Boyertown, $478,700 for field house work; Grace Industries Inc., Nazareth, $287,305 for parking lot and athletic field work, and $147,255 for athletic field work; and TMI Commercial Inc., Honey Brook, Lancaster County; $102,102 for plumbing.

By FRED WALTER Special to The Morning Call - Freelance | December 14, 2000

Washington Township supervisors have approved a $975,000 general fund budget, keeping the real estate tax at 1.76 mills for the eighth year. The owner of property assessed at $50,000 will keep paying $88 in property tax next year. The annual garbage collection fee also will stay at $125. "I think the whole office has done a heck of a job," Supervisor Chairman Ignatz Klausz Jr. said Wednesday night of efforts to control spending. "But we can't promise next year," he said. "We've got things that have to be done."

By FRED WALTER (A free-lance story for The Morning Call) | November 11, 2000

The Washington Township, Northampton County, supervisors have proposed a budget without a tax increase for next year. Wednesday night, the supervisors approved a tentative $975,000 general-fund budget with a real estate tax that would remain at 1.76 mills. The owner of a property assessed at $50,000 would continue to pay $88 in township property tax next year if the budget is enacted as proposed. The annual garbage collection fee also would remain at $125. The budget will be available for inspection from Tuesday to Dec. 4. The spending plan has about $50,000 more than this year's budget to cover architect fees for designing the new municipal building, more use of part-time police and zoning and building code enforcement, according to Assistant Secretary Jane Mellert.

Parkland School District will spend $3 million to renovate the high school football stadium despite opposition from school directors concerned about the district's $130 million debt. After contentious discussion and a failed motion to table the issue Tuesday, the board voted 5-3 to continue the design and bid specification process and to discuss financing later. Parkland High School's football teams play in the stadium at the old high school on Route 309, which is now Orefield Middle School.

In a move that will raise its property tax by 0.91 mills, the Whitehall-Coplay School Board passed its $27.2 million budget by a 5-4 vote Thursday night. The 1998-99 budget raises school district expenditures by $1.16 million. Under the new 23-mill rate, owner of a home assessed at $50,000 will pay $1,150 in real estate tax, a $45.50 increase over 1997-98. "It's a very good budget," school board president John Wieand said. "If we can do as well as we're doing in this district with such a small tax increase, I'm happy."

The East Penn School Board adopted 5-3 a 1998-99 budget that imposes a 13.3 percent property tax hike, boosting the district millage rate to 29.75. The 3.5-mill increase was 1.3 mills lower than the tentative budget approved by the board May 11, which called for an 18.29 percent tax hike. Superintendent Alrita Morgan said the reduction was made possible by an additional $500,000 in the fund balance after reconciling bills and by taking $800,000 from the district's $3.3 million capital reserve fund.

East Penn Superintendent Alrita Morgan said Wednesday she plans to dip into the district's $3.3 million capital reserve to lower the 1998-99 proposed tax hike to 14.48 percent. Under the new proposal, the district would tap $1 million from the fund and knock off 1 mill from the original 4.8-mill increase and reduce it to 3.8 mills. The 4.8-mill increase would have resulted in an 18.28 percent increase. A mill is $1 per $1,000 of assessed value, which means an Alburtis resident with an assessment worth $57,950 would see a $220.

Bethlehem Township will buy $79,312 worth of mobile and portable radio equipment to give police better communication with Northampton County's new 911 emergency dispatch center. Township commissioners Thursday night said the new equipment will allow the township to give up a radio frequency now being borrowed from Bethlehem. The city's frequency permits the township to use its current radio equipment to connect with the 911 center in Palmer Township. The commissioners had set aside $50,000 in a capital reserve anticipating the purchase.

The Catasauqua Area School Board has passed a 1997-98 operating budget of $12.5 million with no tax increase, School Director Linda Pacifico said. A final adjustment was made before approval Tuesday when $300,000 was transferred from the general fund to the capital reserve, Pacifico said. Last summer, the school board used capital reserve money for paving projects in the district. The money transferred Tuesday is being used to replace that money, she said. The board also appointed Sheckler Elementary School Assistant Principal Michael Misko as the school's principal.

Catasauqua Area School Board has tentatively approved a 1997-98 operating budget of $12.5 million. Board President Bennett Koppenhaver said there will be no tax increase. The board on Monday adopted measures recommended by its finance committee last month. Among those is spending $74,000 to buy a school bus and two nine-passenger vans. Buying the vehicles outright would save the district $16,000 in interest. The board cut $100,000 from the original capital improvements allocation.